Vineland Estates, Legacy ‘Infinity Vintage’ Cabernet Franc
Established 1979, Vineland Estates Winery would be considered among Ontario's oldest and pioneering wineries. Brian Schmidt, third generation winegrower, completed his first harvest at Vineland in 1991, and assumed the role of winemaker in 1992. The estate farming around 40 hectares, about 100 acres, of vines, of which about 12 hectares are planted with Cabernet Franc.
When it comes to Cabernet Franc in Ontario, there is no greater champion than Brian Schmidt. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he has devoted his life to the pursuit of making great Cabernet Franc that is expressive of place, through a deep understanding of his vines and soils, a commitment to learning, observing, questioning, and at its core an unwavering belief that this grape is truly the best grape for Ontario.
This passion for Cabernet Franc, his insatiable curiosity and quest to communicate the soul of a place in the glass, ultimately inspired this wine - the Legacy Infinity Vintage Cabernet Franc - a wine that was more than 10 years in the making. It all began with the question that for years Brian struggled to articulate, "what is the expression of Cabernet Franc from their Bo-Teek Vineyard?" Now, how might one "see" the expression of the terroir when a region experiences a lot of vintage variation? Well, you blend across vintages, effectively eliminating vintage variation. So this is the inaugural bottling of a multi-vintage blend that began with the 2012 vintage and was first bottled in 2022.
Bo-Teek Vineyard is located in the Twenty Mile Bench VQA sub-appellation, which is one of three sub-appellations that make up the Niagara Escarpment regional appellations along with the Beamsville Bench and the Short Hills Bench.
The Niagara Escarpment is one of the key geographical features that make viticulture in the Niagara Peninsula possible, that along with Lake Ontario. The escarpment, this ridge, rises to a height of nearly 200m and helps to trap as well as circulate airflow from off the lake into the vineyards. This air flow helps to reduce disease pressure and frost risk, and the added warmth brought by the air helps to increase the overall vineyard temperatures, prolong the growing season and aid ripening.
The Niagara Escarpment vineyard area is made up of a series of wide north-facing terraces or benches that are made up of layers of sedimentary rocks - like dolostone, shale and sandstone - that were formed after the last Ice Age when the glaciers receded.
These terraces make up the larger Lake Iroquois Bench that sit just above the historical shoreline of the ancient Lake Iroquois. These terraces vary in width, the degree of slope and elevation depending on where you are. The Twenty Mile Bench stretches about 9km from east to west and is unique in that it is situated across two of these wide terraces, sometimes referred to as the Vineland Double Bench.
The lower of these two terraces is know as the Bell Terrace, which ranges in elevation from around 128m to about 140m above sea level, and stretches the length of the Twenty Mile Bench and also continues into the Beamsville Bench VQA sub-appellation to the west. The upper terrace, known as the Irondequoit Terrace, over a smaller area and ranges in elevation from around 150m to 180m above sea level.
The growing conditions on the Twenty Mile Bench is a nice goldilocks zone for Cabernet Franc. The region receives long periods of sunshine during the growing season, also extended warm daytime temperatures thanks to the warm air that circulates closer to the base of the terraces, which encourages an even and continuous ripening process.
Located about 5km south of Lake Ontario, the Bo-Teek Vineyard is situated on the Bell Terrace, and ranges in elevation from around 126m at the base of the slope rising to about 140m at the top of the slope. The vineyard has three distinct blocks, and is the source of 5 of Vineland's estate Cabernet Francs. In terms of soil, the topsoil, which varies in depth depending on where you are in the vineyard, is predominantly Oneida clay and clay-loam, and this sits atop a bedrock of dolomitic and argillaceous limestones.
The two main blocks of Cabernet Franc are the sources for the wineries clonal bottlings, Elevation Cabernet Franc and Reserve Cabernet Franc. One block of about 3.2 hectares, which is in the northern part of the vineyard, is planted with clone 327 (a Bordeaux clone) and was planted in 1996. Directly adjacent to this block is another block of about 2 hectares that was planted in 2006 with clone 214 (the Loire clone).
The third block, the Legacy block, which was planted in 2010 with clone 214 for the sole purpose of creating this wine. It is a small 1 acre parcel located in the southeast corner of the vineyard is situated on a south-facing slope - which is rare in the Niagara Peninsula - so this little block gets the added benefit of a little bit more sun exposure throughout the day. The soil in this block is a touch more clayey as well.
Now in terms of winemaking, as I mentioned, this is a multi vintage blend, and the winemaking approach for each vintage was exactly the same. The target yield is about 1 ton per acre, and the block is hand-harvested, destemmed but not crushed. Fermentation was in 1 ton bins with selected yeasts. Brian does no punchdowns or pumpovers, it is essentially maceration through infusion, and the total time on skins is about 14 to 21 days depending on the vintage. No press wine is incorporated, and aging is done in neutral, older French oak barrels.
So, the first vintage was in 2012, and then with the 2013 vintage the winemaking was exactly the same, and then after the free run wine was drained of the skins it was blended with the 2012 vintage and that was aged in neutral barrels. In 2014, the finished free run wine was blended with the assemblage of the 2012 and 2013, and then all three vintages were aged together. And so on and so forth, until the first bottling in 2022.
Now with this first bottling, Brian left 1800L so that this base could be blended with the next vintage, 2022. And in 2023, they did another bottling, always leaving behind about 1800L to be blended with the next vintage, essentially creating a solera-like system of fractional blending. So every year, 600L will be bottled, and each bottling will always include some portion of the very first vintage, and then every vintage thereafter - thus chronicling the ongoing story of a place and a passion for Cabernet Franc.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Vineland Estates Winery
Region: Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada
Sub-region: Twenty Mile Bench
Vineyard: Bo-Teek
Soil: Oneida clay, over a bedrock of dolostone and argillaceous limestone
Alcohol: 13.5%
